Portable electric calf skinner



July 6, 1965 J. T. NICCOLLAI, JR

PORTABLE ELECTRIC CALF SKINNER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 20, 1963 INVENTOR- JOHN T. NICCOLLAI JR.

ATTORNEY Jul 6, 1965 J. T. NICCOLLAI, JR 3,192,558

PORTABLE ELECTRIC CALF SKINNER Filed NOV. 20, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q \2&

Y 39m 3 a7 INVENTOR JOHN T. NICCOLLAI JR.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,192,558 PORTABLE ELECTRIC CALF SKINNER John T. Niccollai, In, Wayne, N..l., assignor of thirty-two and one-half percent to James Niccollai, East Paterson, ten percent to Barney Waits, Paterson, twenty percent to Michael Castro, Oradell, and five percent to Thomas Braeigliano, Oakland, NJ.

Filed Nov. 20, 1963, Ser. No. 325,061 1 Claim. (Cl. 17-21) The present invention relates to a portable electric calf skinner and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements of parts hereinafter to be described and claimed.

At the present time the meat business is faced with a problem concerning the removal of animal skins particularly in the removal of calf skins where the workers deal with one of the more perishable and delicate animals. The majority of calf skinners today are senior citizens who learned their art many years ago and the task of skinning now proceeds at a slow rate, a skinner being able to handle only eight or ten calves per hour and often cutting the skin with his knife, thereby decreasing the same in value and quality.

Generally the present invention is a portable machine having a platform mounted on casters, certain of which are provided with locks. A drum is mounted upon the platform and a frame extends upwardly therefrom and carries a hoist motor at its upper end. A cable extends from the hoist motor beneath the drum and thence upwardly to a novel Y-shaped sling of nylon, a loop being provided at each of the three ends of the sling. In use the machine may be moved beneath a conventional overhead tramrail upon which a calf is hung by its rear feet and two of the loops then attached to the skin of the two uppermost legs after which the hoist is activated to pull the skin downwardly from the body of the calf. Novel means is provided for adjusting the effective height of the frame.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a novel portable electrical calf skinner.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the character set forth which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and yet effective and efficient in use.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a machine of the character set forth, a novel sling forming a part of the invention.

Still another object of the invention is the provision, in a machine of the character set forth, of a novel drum forming a part of the invention.

A still further object of the invention is the provision, in a machine of the character set forth, of a novel frame structure having means for adjusting its effective height.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a plan view thereof,

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a novel sling forming a part of the invention, and

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the machine illustrated in FIGURES l and 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is shown therein a portable electric calf skinner comprising a platform having a pair of forward casters 11 and a pair of rearward casters 12, the latter being provided with conventional locking means 13.

A pair of rear lower standards 14 extends upwardly from either side of the rear of the platform 10 and a pair of forward lower standards 15 extends upwardly from 3,192,555 Patented July 6, 1965 ice either side of the platform 10 at spaced intervals from the rear lower standard 14. Upper standard members 16 are telescopically connected to the lower standards 14 while upper standard members 17 are telescopically connected to the lower standards 15. The members 16 and 17 may be moved vertically with respect to the members 14 and 15 and locked in selected positions by extending bolts or the like through aligned holes 18. Brace members 19 interconnect the members 14 and 15 at each side of the platform 10.

The upper ends of the members 16 and 1 7 are connected by cross bars 20 and 21, respectively, and the members 16 and 17 upon each side of the machine have mounted on their upper ends forwardly extending arms 22 and 23. Brace members 24 interconnect the upper portions of the members 16 and 17 at each side of the machine While brace members 25 extend forwardly and upwardly at each side of the machine from the members 16 to the undersides of the arms 22 and 23.

Brackets 26 are afiixed to the platform 10 at each side thereof and a shaft 27 extends therebetween and has rotatably mounted thereon a drum 28. A reversible electric hoist 29 is carried centrally immediately below the crossbar 26 by a support indicated at 30 and a cable 31 extends downwardly therefrom and thence under the drum 28, thence upwardly to terminate in a hook 32.

A Y-shaped sling 33, preferably formed of nylon, is provided at each of its three ends with a loop 34.

A standard calf trolley 35 is mounted on an overhead tramway 36.

Hand grips 37 are provided on the rear faces of each of the members 16 and a push-button control box is mounted in the forward side of one of the members 16 for controlling the motor of the reversible hoist 29 through a conventional electrical cable 39.

In operation, it will be apparent that a calf 49 whose hide it is desired to remove is first attached by its hind legs to the standard trolley 35. The machine of the invention herein is then moved manually by means of the hand grips 37 to a position with its platform 10 below the calf 40, as shown in FIG. 4. A portion of the hide is then removed from each of the hind legs and, in each case, attached to one of the loops 34 of the sling 33, the remaining loop 34 being then engaged with the hook 32. The hoist 29 is is then activated by the control box 38 to pull the cable 31 toward itself, thus causing the free end of the cable 31 to move downwardly and thus remove the hide from the calf 40. Upon completion of such operation, the hoist 29 is reversed to again pay out the cable 31 to repeat the up eration upon another calf 40. It will be seen that when the machine is positioned beneath a calf as aforesaid that it may be given additional stability by locking the casters 12 by means of the locking devices 13. It will also be apparent that the frame may be adjusted to various heights as may be desired, and to afford additional stability, the frame may be raised until the arms 22 and 23 abut against the underside of the superstructure supporting the tramway.

While but one form of the invention has been shown and described herein, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many minor modification may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A portable calf skinning device of the character described by which hides are stripped from calves freely suspended by the hind legs thereof from an overhead tramway; said device comprising a horizontally disposed platform, a vertically disposed frame-work secured to and extending upwardly from said platform, a reversible electric hoisting mechanism mounted in fixed position on said framework at the upper end thereof, a drum rotatably mounted on said platform, a cable having one end thereof end of said cable downwardly and strip a hide downwardconnected to said hoisting mechanism and having a hook -ly from a calf suspended from said tramway.

secured to the other end thereof, said cable extending downwardly from said hoisting mechanism and around Referellus Cited y the Examine]? the underside of said drum and thence upwardly there 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS from, and a Y-sha-ped sling adapted to have one end thereof releasably connected to said hook and the other ends 3 g g 17 45 thereof connected to the hide, about the hind legs of a calf 0 17 21 suspended from said tramway; said electric hoisting mech- SAMUEL KOREN Primarv Examiner anism being operative when energized to draw in said 10 cable and thereby pull said sling connected to the hooked L CIE H- LAUDENSLAGER, Examiner. 

